Analysis of the psychological effects of Covid-19 in Europe during the first weeks of the pandemic. Survey based on this project conducted by researchers around the world.

Most respondents are aged between 20 and 40.

Full time employed lead the survey.

The majority of the answers come from women.

Based on the analysis of perceived individual stress, obtained through the PSS Scale, invented by psychologists Cohen, Karmak, and Mermelstrein (1983), using indicators of stress responses, for instance, perceived lack of control over events, pressure from mounting difficulties and feeling upset about unexpected changes. Scores are considered moderate above 2.4, and high above 3.7. More infos about PSS Scale here.

Levels of stress were moderate or lower in many countries. Poland and Croatia reported the highest levels of stress in Europe,and Denmark and the Netherlands the lowest.

Stress level is in line with the model predictions, with few exceptions. Unexpectedly in the end of the May the stress level increased again, it is weird because typically with the beginning of summer people should be less stressed; unfortunately we don’t have any data that will confirm this trend.

The cause of the stress of the respondents, asking them questions regarding various factors that represent a source of stress.

The results indicate that most respondents are concerned about the state of the national economy.

Partecipants were asked how much they trusted six key institutions in relation to the Covid-19 emergency.

Here there are OECD guidelines on measuring institutions trust.

Europeans reported only medium level of trust at all, with the highest levels of trust for their countries’ healthcare system and the WHO. Notably, Countries governments reported the lowest level of trust.

Poland is the most stressed Nation but also one of the Country in which the population trust least in their own government. Finland, on the other hand, is the nation with the least stress related to Covid, and it is also one of the Nations in which the population trust most in their own government.

Similar patterns as the trust level in the governments, with Bulgaria that reported the lowest level of trust for the national effort to handle the pandemic.

It was also asked participants to judge the appropriateness of the countries’ measures in response to the COVID-19 on a scale from 0 (too little), to 5 (appropriate, the black dashed line in the graph), to 10 (too much).

Slovakia and Slovenia were those countries where citizens considered the measures stronger than necessary; in the plot, the vertical mid-line indicates that the measures are appropriate. France and Hungary citizens judged their governments’response less than appropriate.

Poland not having confidence in the measures taken by governments and does not even try to reduce transmission, while Denmark is in the opposite situation. In countries with higher trust towards governments ’efforts, citizens were also more likely to report higher levels of compliance with directives aimed at controlling the spread of the virus.

Notably, Portugal reported higher levels of compliance than the model would predict based on the acceptance of government efforts. An outlier in the other direction, Latvia reported lower levels of compliance than those the model predicted, given levels of trust.

In the first month the trust for government’s effort to handle Coronavirus appears to increase, due to more stringent measures. But with beginning of the summer season Trust level seems to be decreasing, probably because in many countries, including ours, Italy, the measures were almost null.

• Poland citizens have the highest level of stress
• Student is the most stressed category
• Women results more frustrated then men
• European Citizens are scared about National economy
• Country’s Healthcare system is trusted

In conclusion, The countries of Northern Europe result less stressed and trust more in their authority rules to block the pandemic ,on the other side est-european countries are most stressed and trust less in their governments and in measure taken to handle the pandemic